They heard from Ian in an amazingly short amount of time. Not from him personally – he'd asked one of the guards who was standing in the corridor outside the lab to go find the others, and the Marine had agreed. Ian went back into the lab, and less than fifteen minutes later, he was joined by SG-1 (including Sam, of course), Shawn, Andrew, Hammond and the Asgard.
"You found something?" Sam asked.
"I'm ready to start," Ian said, tapping a few keys on the computer he'd been practically glued to the past week. "What I need is a volunteer."
"I'll help you," Andrew said.
Ian shook his head.
"An Asgard volunteer."
Thor stepped forward.
"I will volunteer."
"What are you going to do?" Shawn asked curiously.
"I just need to check something out really quick," Ian said. He turned to Thor, but sat down in his chair to be able to be more level with the small alien. "This shouldn't hurt."
Thor nodded, and they all watched breathlessly as Ian rested his right hand on the little alien's chest and then closed his eyes.
"What are you doing?" one of the other Asgard asked.
"Hush," Ian said, without opening his eyes. "I'm trying to concentrate."
The Asgard fell silent, and they watched Ian, unsure exactly what to expect.
What they saw was absolutely nothing. Ian was quiet, his hand not moving and his whole body tense as he did whatever it was he was doing. Then, fifteen minutes later, he opened his eyes and moved his hand off Thor, taking a deep breath.
"Well?" Sam asked, curiously. Everyone in the room was curious, but Sam was the first to ask because she was the one who was least concerned about being snapped at.
Ian looked over at her.
"It should work." He stood up and moved over to the stasis pod that held the more human version of an Asgard. "I need this open. Now."
"What are you going to do?" Thor asked.
Ian scowled, but apparently decided to answer.
"I'm going to take a DNA sample from Shawn and merge it into her system," Ian said, gesturing to the still form in the pod.
"You cannot do that," Thor said. "It will not work."
"Yes, it will. I can do it."
"And then the Asgard will be able to use this thing for their cloning again?" Sam asked.
Ian shook his head.
"No. It's still not going to be close enough to their own systems. But I can make it close by adding in a sample of Asgard DNA from what they are now – which I'm going to take from Thor."
"But then if they use her, they'll all end up as clones of Thor," Shawn said.
"No, they won't. That's why I needed to see the samples of the other Asgard – to see what it was that made each one different, and what was the same in all of them. I can sort through all that and just take the base DNA – not the particular DNA strains that make Thor exclusively Thor. Just the ones that make him Asgard."
"That is impossible," one of the Asgard said, shaking his head in disbelief. "They cannot be separated. We have tried."
Ian scowled.
"If you don't want me to do it, then you've just wasted a lot of my time for nothing."
"Are you certain you can do this, Ian Brooks?" Thor asked. He had more faith in what Ian could do than most of his peers. And the boy had the knowledge of the Ancients in his head. The Ancients might have had the ability – even though it wasn't something the Asgard had ever been able to do.
"I can do it."
"What's it going to do to you?" Jack asked.
"It's not going to turn me into one of them."
"Will it wipe you out?" He already looked tired.
Ian frowned, thinking about what kind of effort he'd be using.
"I'm not sure. I'm not really healing anything, just moving them around… that shouldn't take so much effort."
"But you don't know," Hammond said.
Ian shook his head.
"I'm not sure."
Hammond turned to Andrew.
"Go outside and ask one of the guards to go get Doctor Fraiser, please."
Andrew nodded, and headed for the door, and Ian scowled.
"That's probably not necessary."
"Let's not take any chances," Hammond said. "If something happens, I'd rather have her close by to take care of it."
"Will this hurt?" Shawn asked, changing the subject so Ian wouldn't keep arguing.
Ian shook his head.
"I don't think so. It shouldn't, anyways."
"How are you going to take samples?" Sam asked. "Needles?"
Ian gave her a surprised look, and shook his head again.
"God, no. I wouldn't know where to start with a needle. I'll just take it from Shawn and hold it inside myself – and do the same with Thor's when I take his."
"Won't that hurt?" Shawn asked, frowning.
"It's not going to be pleasant."
"Your body will reject the sample," one of the Asgard said.
"It's not going to be there that long," Ian replied. "You let me worry about that."
Like they had any choice.
"So what happens when both samples are in this thing?" Jack asked, gesturing at the being in the stasis pod.
"It depends on how well it works."
"So you're not sure it's going to work?" Hammond asked.
"It'll work," Ian said, scowling. "I just can't say how well it's going to work until I get started."
"Are you sure there's no other way?" Jack asked, frowning. "It sounds kind of risky…"
"They're too far gone to try anything else."
The Asgard nodded their agreement – even though they were certainly just as skeptical about this whole thing as the humans were.
"What can we do to help?" Sam asked.
"Clear the room. I won't be able to concentrate if there are a bunch of people staring at me…"
Hammond nodded.
"As soon as Doctor Fraiser gets here, it'll be just you, Shawn, and Thor – with her observing from a corner."
Since there was no sense in him trying to argue with Hammond about that, Ian nodded. He looked at Shawn.
"Take off your shirt…"
Shawn arched an eyebrow – a trick he'd learned from Teal'c long ago.
"I've always wondered when someone would want me to strip for them… I just never figured it'd be you."
Jack snorted, and Ian rolled his eyes.
"Just do it, Adams."
Jesus, that was all he needed; a comedian.
